Budd retires from bicycle racing

Glens Falls bicycle racer was headed out on the circuit.

“James G. Budd leaves this morning for Ilion to compete in the bicycle events at that place this afternoon. Tomorrow and Wednesday Mr. Budd will start in several races at Syracuse,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on June 8, 1895.

Budd placed second in the half-mile open at Ilion.

In other 1895 James Budd news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

“Several Glens Falls wheelmen are training for the tournament to be held at Woodlawn Oval, Saratoga, June 26. The Morning Star reported June 8, 1895.

Organizers wanted more competitors from Glens Falls to register.

“David S. Cooper, pressman of The Saratogian, and Elmer Capen, both enthusiastic wheelmen, were in town yesterday inviting local cyclists to attend the tournament at Woodlawn Oval, Saratoga Springs, The Morning Star reported on June 10.

James G. Budd and Harry Elkes of Glens Falls were among those planning to enter one or more of the races.

• “Bicycle racing is fast becoming one of the most popular forms of amusement,” The Morning Star proclaimed on July 24, in a report about the day-long bicycle racing event the previous day at the Washington Country Fairgrounds. “Any doubts on the subject must have been dispelled. … The attendance was large. The enthusiasm was contagious and extended through the crowd.”

James G. Budd competed in multiple events.

He won first heat of the half-mile open with a time of 1 minute 18 ½ seconds, but he lost in the final to O. H. Monroes of Cohoes, who had won the second heat.

Budd and F. B. Stowe of Conway, Mass., were leading in the tandem race but fell behind and did not place after a tire came off the rear wheel as they neared the finish line.

Budd competed in the 220-yard dash, but did not place.

*“James G. Budd rode a half-mile on a bicycle at the Washington County Fair Ground yesterday in 1:00 3/4. George Eddy and L. H. Austin paced him on tandem. This beats the state record by ¾ of a second,” The Morning Star reported on July 27.

• “Records were shattered, broken and made Thursday at the Diamond Bicycle Meet on the Mile Track in Glens Falls,” The Granville Sentinel reported on Aug. 23. “The event of the afternoon was J. G. Budd’s performance. Budd went a half mile against time, paced by a tandem. He covered the distance in fifty seconds, lowering the state record for Class A riders.”
• James G. Budd set two new track records at the Mechanicville Bicycle Club races om Aug. 30, The Morning Star reported the next day.

Budd won the half-mile open with a time of 1 minute, 4 1/5 seconds and won the half-mile flying start with a time of 1 minute 1 1/5 seconds.

Budd won the quarter-mile open and one-mile open races at the Cambridge Fair on Sept. 4.

• Budd decided it was time to give up racing and devote all of his time to his family’s business.

“After three successful seasons, James G. Budd announced that he has permanently retired from the bicycle track,” The Morning Star reported on Sept. 9. “This season he has broken most of the track records where he has ridden.”

Click here to read the most recent previous James G. Budd post.